I contact this company last year, September regarding pricing for a dress for my wedding. They emailed me back the next day, but their price was TOO high, so I originally left it at that. Then in February of this year they contacted me back regarding my original inquiry.
I replied to them that $1200 as a base price was more than I was willing to spend when there were so many things that I wanted changed about the dress. I replied that I was surprised to hear back from them and that the price was too high, that I would rather get married in jeans and a t-shirt. They replied the very next day that they certainly wouldn't want me to do that and they would be happy to work with me.
I emailed them a couple pictures from their own site and explained what I wanted between them and sent a photograph of the fabric design that I wanted. They offered a price of $660 plus the additional fee for using MY exact measurements. I was ecstatic, I really thought they were being very nice and seemed quite eager to gain my business.
On Feb I placed an order for my gown, I paid just over 50% up front, $400 and then 2 weeks later I offered to pay the remaining $389 so they would be paid. This was probably my biggest mistake. Ever since the second balance cleared my account they became non-responsive. I sent a few emails, one asking for a swatch of fabric for my friend to use to match fabric for my 9 year old daughter's dress. They said they couldn't do that, which I found a little unaccomodating since I'd paid in full.
Copy/pasted email (last name and email address removed per instructions):
From: David for Cordell Couture
Sent: Friday, March 16 11:25 AM
To: Mary XXXX
Subject: Mary XXXX - ne - SEPT
Hi Mary,
I checked into it and I am unable to send you a swatch of the fabric. As you said, luckily you have the pictures you submitted to use as a reference.
We will contact you when you gown is complete and ready for shipment. Have a great weekend!
Best Regards,
David~Sales Team
Darius Cordell Couture - Design Studio
I also had a request to find out roughly when my dress would be ready because I had an appointment with a local bridal shop to check the fit and alter it for me if needed since they did my personal measurements that were used for the dress order. I sent an email asking how close we were getting.
Mind you the order was placed on 2/9/07, and this was 4/23/07. I didn't receive a response to this, so 2 days later I sent a second email expressing my concern that now that they had my money they seemed as though they didn't intend to respond to my inquiries. They responded quite rudely to this, telling me that they didn't feel the need to respond to every little email when I was told they would not contact me until the item was finished.
In addition, a snide remark was made in the email telling me to review the pricing disclosure on their site, which this disclosure says they reserve the right to change the price at any time without notice.
To this I responded that it was terrible customer service for them to accept someone's money for a product and then behave rudely when the customer, who has already been waiting for quite some time, asks them for some reassurance that their order is being handled in the timeframe expected. I explained that I cannot possibly be the only bride-to-be they've worked with and when almost $800 has already been provided but the item not received and there is very little current correspondence, in fact the discouragement of correspondence, it tends to make someone feel quite nervous. Especially in the day and age of internet fraud being on the rise, they should be more understanding. To this I received no reply whatsoever.
At this time it has been over 18 weeks since my order was placed. I emailed them on June 8th explaining that I still haven't received correspondence regarding the completion or delay of my wedding dress. It has been 10 days and I still haven't received a response. I have filed a complaint through my bank since I paid for the dress using my debit card and have records of the transactions. Since the charges are backed by Visa and I haven't received the items, my bank said they would take matters into their hands to attempt to resolve the issue.
I suppose we'll see. This is a lesson learned at least. I will NEVER deal with this company again, and if you value customer service, as I do, I would suggest you steer clear as well.
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